Category Archive

 few years ago I was attached to a programme in India which was aimed at curbing childhood obesity. There were many approaches but one of the most successful was helping the mothers of families to cook more healthily. This approach … Read More

Could you ever see yourself swapping real meat for fake meat? Well pretty soon you could find yourself doing just that because it’s become a global trend. Greggs launching a vegan Quorn sausage roll last year was just the beginning. For me, … Read More

I’ve often wondered, if alternative medicines, including homeopathic remedies, only work at placebo level – they do you good if you believe they will – are they justified just for their placebo effect? The placebo effect will make one in … Read More

Homeopathy may be based on eccentric principles and be ineffective according to ­medical standards – but there are many people who believe in it. It doesn’t seem to bother them that no homeopathic remedy has ever been shown to have … Read More

Should we think of obesity as a disease? Even though many people say it’s self-inflicted, the World Health Organisation has considered it a disease since 1936. And the outcomes of obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, liver disease, cancer, ­arthritis, … Read More

I know personally that it’s all too easy to put something you don’t want to do on the back burner. You fiddle around doing anything but the hard-to-face job in hand. One of the tasks I find I dither over … Read More

Back in the 80s I went to New York to say farewell to a dear friend who was in the last throes of AIDS. It was a ­terrifying goodbye. He was ill, rake-thin, couldn’t eat, was retching all the time and … Read More

Years ago I remember reading some research on retired 80-year-old Japanese men. In the experiment some of them went back to their former employment once a week and others stayed at home. The results? Just half an hour a week … Read More

I can remember the time when smokers held sway and non-smokers simply had to grin and bear it. The smoking lobby ruled and ashtrays littered every social scene, cinemas were a fog of cigarette smoke and we were all passive … Read More

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in the abdomen, that controls the body’s use of glucose (sugar). The blood sugar level will rise if the pancreas produces little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes), or if the pancreas … Read More